This invention relates to film canisters. More particularly it relates to photographic film canisters with indicating means to show the status of the film in the container.
Film canisters, particularly 35 mm film canisters, are utilized to store and protect rolls of film before usage, after usage, and prior to processing. The canisters are typically made of injection molded plastic and are generally considered disposable after use. Typically such canisters do not have any means for indicating whether the film inside the canister is used or unused. The user must open the canister and check to see if the leader section of the film is extending out of the roll. If for some reason the integrity of the packaging of the roll of film has been compromised, such as opening of the canister, the film can be exposed. Where several rolls of exposed and unexposed film are stored together, the opening process may be repeated several times to find an unexposed roll of film.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,513 to Ingram et al. discloses a film canister in which a label may be removed to expose indicia indicating that the film has been used. The Ingram invention does not disclose any means for reusing said film canister and requires additional steps in manufacturing to attach the labeling with the indicia to the canister cap.
A simple canister is needed to provide a means of determining whether the film inside the canister is exposed or unexposed. The means should be simple and ideally not require any additional steps in manufacturing of the canister.